Logan man who shot, killed co-worker sentenced to at least 15 years in prison

LOGAN — A Logan man was ordered to spend at least 15 years and up to life in prison after admitting he fatally shot a co-worker in 2021.

Lorenzo Tena-Vasquez, 61, told police he shot Yovani Nieto Arellano, 29, of Logan, after he was "fearful and angry" about being threatened — but police say Arellano was in a "seated, defenseless position" and "unarmed at the time of the shooting," according to a police booking affidavit.

Tena-Vasquez pleaded guilty on July 13 to murder, a first-degree felony, and felony discharge of a firearm, a second-degree felony.

He was sentenced to a term of 15 years to life in the Utah State Prison for the charge of murder, and to a term of three to 15 years in prison for felony discharge of a firearm. The sentences are set to run concurrently.

Tena-Vasquez was arrested on Aug. 12, 2021, after officers from the Cache County Sheriff's Office were called to a home construction site in Millville on reports of a shooting.

According to the booking affidavit, Tena-Vasquez told police he and Arellano were co-workers who had fought earlier that morning and that Arellano had threatened him. Tena-Vasquez told police he left the job site, retrieved a gun from his home and returned to the site to find Arellano sitting in the basement, the affidavit states.

Tena-Vasquez told police he shot Arellano between six and seven times, and explained to them that "rather than waiting for (Arellano) to come to his home to harm him, as (Arellano) had threatened to do, he felt it best to shoot (Arellano) on this occasion," according to the affidavit.

"Lorenzo maintained that he shot (Arellano) in self-defense; however, he described that when he contacted the victim, (Arellano) was in a seated, defenseless position, unarmed at the time of the shooting," the affidavit states.

In exchange for Tena-Vasquez's guilty plea in July, six charges were dismissed: five charges of felony discharge of a firearm, a first-degree felony; and one charge of felony discharge of a firearm, a third-degree felony.

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